Was Alberto Del Rio Underrated?

[BigBombB]

He was thrust as a "big deal, fairly quick" into the WWE spotlight no different than Sheamus and a few others of his time. Minimal build, instant push. He never had the opportunity to establish a connection with the fans before he was being treated like a main eventer and being shoved down everyone's throats. At first everyone was ok with it, Del Rio had a good look and a great family lineage, plus he seemed like a credible replacement to keep the Mexican fans happy with the inconsistent Rey Mysterio slowly fading out.

Then it all just stopped. It wasn't that no one cared, it was that no one was excited about him, no one hated him, he was just kind of there. He filled a role and that was it. He had some good matches, he was put in some questionable feuds, then he began to fade...

...that is until his feud with Dolph Ziggler. Payback 2013, Ziggler returns from an injury and Del Rio absolutely decimates him. The crowd was so heavily behind Ziggler and absolutely hating Del Rio that you could feel it in your bones. It seemed like the watershed moment in both of their careers. The two had chemistry, they had a good program going, and then...suddenly it went nowhere. Ziggler's huge "comeback" to get his revenge on Del Rio never really happened. He got a rematch where he got a huge crowd reaction but AJ cost him the title and, rather than this building to yet another big match where Ziggler could get his big victory, both men were suddenly shoved down the card. Neither ever recovered.

Could Del Rio have been the big star we all expected him to be if he had more time to connect with the crowd? Could his feud with Ziggler have been huge if it hadn't been forced to take a backseat to an AJ storyline? Is Del Rio a victim of the same machine that created him?

 

[Roaches]

Thrusting Del Rio into the limelight before he'd earned his stripes was a stupid move. Not only did it smack of desperation from the creative team, but his character has been irrevocably damaged as a result. With regards to his longevity or lack thereof, he simply didn't cut the mustard. It's as simple as that. He was given a fair crack of the whip and fell at the first hurdle.

 

[James2293]

Well wwe was at a time where it was cena and everyone else. They were just throwing people into the main event without building them up. Del rio was always entertaining in the ring to me. I thought they had something with his face turn when he won the title from big show. He had couple of good promos with uncle Zeb. But then swagger got arrested and their match became predictable and you knew ziggler was eventually going to cash in. To me he'll go down as a missed opportunity as he could've been a big draw for them

 

[a member of wwe universe]

OP needs to change the title of this thread. He is no way "underrated" as he had been given numerous opportunities that other midcarder would love to have a fraction of. He won multiple wwe and world titles, MITB, Royal Rumble in his time with wwe.

 

[Degenerate88]

If anything, he was overrated. Never seen what everyone else thinks is talent, charisma, etc .

 

[Meth Head]

The thing about debuting at the top is that you've got nowhere else to go but down. The greatest names in the business all worked their way to the top. They didn't start off there. Nothing against Del Rio but if he had been a babyface when he got thrust into the main event the way he was, he would have been booed anyway.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Del Rio's gimmick always struck me as a retread of the Million Dollar Man, which is not a bad thing -- "rich" snobs who look down at others go way back in wrestling. The problem is that the WWE moved away from this aspect of his character and without it, there really wasn't much to like or hate about Alberto Del Rio. He certainly wasn't a very good face...I'd argue that Ricardo Rodriguez was more popular than he was. He had a good feud going with Ziggler, but Ziggler had injuries that made it tough to book him consistently, and also suffered from aimless characterization. Del Rio worked well when he was bashing on Rey Mysterio being from the street in that initial feud, and when he was claiming that the World Title was his "destiny".

But this is the problem almost across the board -- characters get created, but then the actual "character" gets forgotten, and all fans are left with are wrestlers with vaguely cocky heel or face personalities. I've said before, being cocky is not a differentiator. It makes a wrestler just another arrogant heel in a pack full of arrogant heels.

 

[SoulTrain4]

I think you mean "under appreciated" in which case I agree. I enjoyed ADR in most cases, helluva worker inbetween the ropes.

They should have done more with his character and allowed it to evolve more. They botched his initial push (losing to Edge at WM, losing the WWE title in his first defense) anything that would have made him credible got ruined to push either Sheamus or Cena.

His face turn was okay but it got ruined by Swagger's foolishness and Dolph being a superstar. Since then he hasn't been doing anything.

 

[free40susbird]

ADR = The Tim Tepid of the WWE
Ricardo = Give This Guy A PUSH!!!